Publications

07 Jul 2016
Cold Call Podcast

How to Fix a Broken Global Team

Keywords: Re: Tsedal Neeley

April 2001 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Color Kinetics Incorporated (A)

By: Das Narayandas and Mary N. Caravella

Two-year-old start-up Color Kinetics has developed unique colored lighting technology using digitally controlled LEDs, and has developed that technology into a successful line of products for its first targeted market of "retailtainment." Now in November 1999, the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Growth and Development; Management Teams; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Electronics Industry

07 Jun 2014
Video

Dora Vardis - Making A Difference

January 2009 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple

By: Stefan Thomke and Barbara Feinberg

Describes Apple's approach to innovation, management, and design thinking. For several years, Apple has been ranked as the most innovative company in the world, but how it has achieved such success remains mysterious because of the company's obsession with secrecy.... View Details

Keywords: Design; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management; Product Design; Product Development; Research and Development; Creativity; Technology Industry

October 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Dulcie Madden (A)—Growth or Exit?

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Christopher Payton and Shweta Bagai

This is part of a three-case series that follows Dulcie Madden's journey as a founder over five years. Case (A) is about managing growth and cash flow; Case (B) is about the exit decision and conditions on a sale; Case (C) shows Madden dealing with adversity and the... View Details

Article

Reimagining the Balanced Scorecard for the ESG Era

By: Robert S. Kaplan and David McMillan

Companies are increasingly aware that their customers and society in general expect businesses to adopt and work towards social and environmental objectives as well as the traditional financial ones. This involves not only re-evaluating firms’ models but re-imagining... View Details

Keywords: ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Business Ecosystems; Balanced Scorecard; Adaptation; Business Model; Business and Stakeholder Relations

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06 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

Cheese Moving: Effecting Change Rather Than Accepting It

Behavior best-seller list—thanks in part to corporate managers who distribute it to their employees as a lesson in accepting and anticipating change gracefully. But is that really the best message to send? Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

June 1999
Case

NovaCare, Inc. - Helping Make Life a Little Better

NovaCare, a rehabilitation and employee-services comapny, has evolved over a 15-year period. Senior management believes that its success is largely due to its core values, which are shared on a daily basis and drive decisions. Operational and structural changes have... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth Management; Organizational Culture; Service Industry

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29 Mar 2022
Book

5 Qualities That Help Companies Thrive for Decades—Even Centuries

“Problems happen in family management when there are three or four brothers. All brothers may not be of equal capability and commitment.” Successful family-owned enterprises build mechanisms that over time... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 2000 (Revised March 2006)
Case

ZOOTS--The Cleaner Cleaner

By: Myra M. Hart and Sharon Peyus

A successful entrepreneur (retailing) starts a new venture in dry cleaning. The case focuses on transferable models, skills, and knowledge from one venture to the next. Areas of emphasis are: managing growth, challenges of operations, financing, and competitive moves. View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Competitive Strategy; Operations; Knowledge Dissemination; Business Startups; Corporate Finance; Service Industry; Retail Industry

January 2023 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Elon Musk at Tesla

By: George Serafeim and Amram Migdal

This case gives an overview of Elon Musk’s career arc through the lens of the 2003 founding of Tesla and its growth through 2022. Background information is included on Tesla’s unique strategic decisions, its operational and reputational struggles and successes, and the... View Details

01 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

What to Do When Your Organization Has Dueling Missions

at why some hybrid organizations succeed in achieving social success, while others fail. Click Here In this video, HBS professor Julie Battilana discusses the challenges of managing the duel missions of a hybrid organization. The secret... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

August 2011 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Language and Globalization: 'Englishnization' at Rakuten (A)

By: Tsedal Neeley

Hiroshi Mikitani, the CEO of Rakuten, (Japan's largest online retailer), is at the helm of an organization that is rapidly expanding into global markets. In a critical stride toward becoming the world's No. 1 Internet services company, Mikitani announces... View Details

Keywords: Teaching; Human Capital; Change Management; Transformation; Social Enterprise; Communication Strategy; Internet and the Web; Disruptive Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Leadership; Global Strategy; Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Japan

01 Oct 2021
Research & Ideas

Dying to Lead: How Reaching the Top Can Kill You Sooner

demands. "What we’re beginning to understand is that life at the top isn’t that easy." The historical study by Harvard Business School Professor Tom Nicholas, who tracked the status and mortality rates of more than 1,000 managers and... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

November 2003 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Beverly Stern: Retail Executive

By: H. Kent Bowen and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Beverly Stern has been a successful operating manager in three prominent retail chains: GAP, Pottery Barn, and Williams-Sonoma. Stern's last job at a start-up did not meet her expectations, and she must now decide what to do next. She has an offer to start a new retail... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Experience and Expertise; Personal Characteristics; Jobs and Positions; Decisions; Retail Industry

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05 Jul 2023
Cold Call Podcast

How Unilever Is Preparing for the Future of Work

Keywords: Re: William R. Kerr; Retail; Consumer Products

Erling Lorentzen

Keywords: Pulp and Paper

June 2005
Case

Billy Beane: Changing the Game

Describes how Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland A's baseball team, employs statistical methodologies to select who is undervalued in the marketplace. Examines why few teams have imitated his organization's successful strategy. Explores threats to Oakland's... View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Competitive Advantage; Sports; Sports Industry; California

May 2016
Case

Seaside Organics

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Alisa Zalosh

This case follows Sara Norton, a soccer player-turned-serial entrepreneur, as she transforms Seaside Organics from a fledgling startup into an $89 million company. Informed by the successes and failures of her first organics venture, WellBar, Norton tries to balance... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Structure; Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurship; Personal Characteristics; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Conflict and Resolution; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry